Oh snap. So Jared recently bartered his PS3 for a knife (+ cash) from Chef Brian Wong. Ok, this is not just any knife, this is a Watanabe 240mm White Steel Yanagi (sashimi knife), custom made from Japan. (Excuse the garish low quality website. It does not reflect the awesomeness that is this knife). For the fraction of the price of other knife makers, it is hard to beat the quality and craftsmanship of a Watanabe handmade knife. We always thought that the Shun knives I purchased for Jared over the years were pretty top notch (um atleast for my price range). But I think I'd describe those Shuns as dull in comparison! If you click on the photo above, you'll notice in the left photo at the blade there are flecks of sawdust. As we were carefully placing the knife for the photoshoot, I moved the blade forward ever so slowly and the slightest grazing of the blade started tearing into the wooden sheath (I really feel like calling it a scabbard. ha!). Yikes!

Now, onto the meal. What better way to start playing with this new sashimi knife than to start cutting some fish for sashimi! We stopped by Mitsuwa earlier in the day for a bowl of tonkotsu ramen for lunch and sushi grade fish for dinner. So for the final installment of our seafood weekend extravaganza, we picked up salmon, chu-toro (tuna), Suzuki sea bass and hamachi (yellowtail).

Pretty awesome.

The knife sliced beautifully through the fish, and Jared was able to get paper thin slices of sashimi with ease. But come on, who wants to eat thin slices when eating sashimi, unless you are trying to feed 10 people with 1 small block of fish. :)

By no means is this the be all and end all of sashimi knives. There are knives that go from several hundred more to thousands of dollars! But for what we're willing to pay for a knife, it is safe to say that it is pretty awesome!

Not pictured were grilled salt cured salmon collar, grilled hamachi collar and grilled king oyster mushroom. More crab and bamboo was added to the rice after the shoot. It was another good night at the Zhao household.